Warner nixes fiscal cliff fundraiser

Sen. Mark Warner canceled a "fiscal cliff" fundraiser Thursday evening just an hour and a half after an invitation went out.

A fundraiser for the Virginia Democrat, who has taken a leading role in the Gang of Eight to try to come up with a debt and deficit plan, sent out an email invitation for a Nov. 14 roundtable lunch for Warner at Johnny's Half Shell.

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The email invited supporters at a suggested campaign contribution of $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000 to engage in a conversation with Warner on the fiscal cliff.

"Instead of kicking the can down the road, Senator Warner is back in action with the Gang of Eight — originally the Gang of Six — to address the debt and deficit with a long term solution," the fundraising email read. "This bipartisan team is gearing-up over lame duck to reintroduce a deficit reduction plan that looks like Simpson Bowls 3.0; an updated version of the commission to reform a tax code that produces too little and entitlement programs that spend too much."

Warner's spokesman Kevin Hall said the invite never should have gone out.

"This unauthorized invitations was inappropriate, no ifs, ands or buts about it, and within minutes of finding out about it we canceled the event and sent a follow-up message to the recipients," Hall said.

Warner's fundraiser Tina Stoll took responsibility for the error. It took about 90 minutes for the cancellation email to be sent, although some recipients didn't receive the cancellation for hours.

"This should never have gone out, was not authorized," Stoll said in an email. "I immediately cancelled it."

Several lobbyists said fundraising off of the fiscal cliff was in poor taste.

One Democratic lobbyist called it "outrageous."

Warner isn't the first lawmaker who has had fundraisers to try to capitalize on a high-profile slot on a committee or panel. Lobbyists at the Investment Company Institute sent out an email last August touting Rep. Xavier Becerra's (D-Calif.) appointment to the super committee just hours after he had been appointed to the panel. At the time, Becerra said he was not responsible for the language.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 11:35 a.m. on October 19, 2012.